Back Pack Meals, 4-6 pm Fridays at OBC
KNOXVILLE, TN (April 2020) – Did you know that there are homeless and hungry children attending Knox County Schools who are without food over the weekend? Some are homeless, living in shelters, out of an abandoned car. Lunch at school is often their only meal for the day.
On Fridays, during the school year, children in the “BackPack” program are loaded with cereal, milk, fruit, and snacks in their backpacks for food over the weekend.
“We want to make sure we can still get food to them,” said Kendra Berry. Back-Pack families need to know that weekend meals are still being provided. Berry is the Resource Coordinator at Vine Middle School. With schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vine Middle School students are also eligible for BackPack weekend meals.
On Fridays, from 4-6 pm, Berry and her team of volunteers distribute BackPack meals at Over Coming Believers Church at 300 Harriet Tubman Ave. to Sarah Moore Greene, Green, Vine Middle, and Emerald Youth students.
Sarah Moore Greene and Green Elementary Schools have about 150 students in the BackPack program according to Kendra Berry, but no child will be turned away.
During the school year, Berry is a resources coordinator at Vine Middle School and works with Great Schools Partnership and Community Schools.
Berry acknowledged community partners that include: Second Harvest Food Bank, Great Schools Partnership, Community Schools, Emerald Youth Foundation, and Overcoming Believers Church for stepping-up to fill-up empty plates of Knox County students.
